“Pre-K to grade 3 education requires an approach that puts children’s learning first,” said Gail Connelly, NAESP executive director and one of the briefing’s panelists. “If we as a nation are serious about reducing the appalling—and costly—dropout rate, we must provide the steady support children need when they are 3 and 4—not waiting until they’re 13 and 14 and in deep academic trouble.”

Connelly was joined in the briefing by Lisa Guernsey, director of the Early Education Initiative at the New America Foundation, John Welsh, principal of Bremerton, Washington’s Naval Avenue Early Learning Center and NAESP immediate past president Barbara Chester, a principal in Portland, Oregon.

The report, developed by the NAESP Foundation’s Task Force on Early Learning with support from the ING Foundation, offers ten steps to strengthen early learning, including streamlining federal policy and regulations, boosting funding for pre-kindergarten through 3rd grade learning and aligning a continuum of research-based standards for young learners’ development.

Welsh stressed that principals are key stakeholders in this alignment, because they serve as a bridge between the early learning and K-12 community.

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Early learning is a necessary and vital element to the success of our country. When you see what other countries have done, the United States needs to get busy and strive for excellence in this area. As a country, the children deserve our very best, and aligning early learning and K-12 education is critical. As a principal for 16 years, this initiative has my full support.